Chakra's celebrated chef to open a traditional French brasserie in Closter

Thomas Ciszak, chef and partner of one of Bergen's most dynamic restaurants, Chakra in Paramus and elegant seafood restaurant Blue Morel in Morristown, plans to open a traditional French brasserie in the new Closter Plaza.

Braserrie Memere (French for "granny") will offer classic French cuisine as well as a wine and cocktail program. His wife Evelyn will be general manager and beverage director, as she is at Chakra. It will seat 140 indoors and 40 "on a great private patio," Ciszak said.

Brasserie Memere will not be a high-end fine-dining restaurant, Ciszak assures, but a down-to-earth restaurant offering solid "everyday French food" — the kind of classic French food served at such celebrated new Gallic restaurants as Le Coucou and Frenchette in New York City without the hefty price tag, he said.

He also said he wants to reintroduce classic French food to young restaurant-goers.

"People think French food is fancy," he said. But, he said, that's a myth, one that he wants to dispel with a menu featuring lots of "healthy" salads including salad Nicoise and frisee-lardon, simple sandwiches such as a fresh baguette with home-made butter and ham, and quintessential French dishes such as coq au vin and roasted rabbit.

"This will not be my interpretation of French food," he said. "This will be the real thing, the real traditional French food."

Ciszak said that he was approached by the developers of Closter Plaza five years ago to open a restaurant at the shopping center, but he was hesitant. "Nothing was there yet," he said. "I didn't know if I should do it." Food Network stalwart Jose Garces signed up, but after Garces had to declare bankruptcy, the developers once again approached Ciszak.

"It's a really nice shopping center with Whole Foods. Lululemon, an upscale movie theater," he said. His restaurant will be located right next to Orangetheory Fitness, a workout center.

Why a French restaurant?

The German-born chef said that French cooking techniques were always considered the gold standard for professional cooks and for a long time French food was the exemplar of the best fine dining. "My first Michelin three-star restaurant was French. In culinary school, everything we learned was French."

He added that the concept of "fusion" cuisine ruined appreciation for traditional food. "It's okay to be traditional," he said.

He named the restaurant to honor his grandmother, who, he said, "was an exceptional cook, grew her own food, made everything from scratch. She was my inspiration to become a chef."